AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She gazed up at him, caught by how beautiful he was. How intense. And how focused on her. It was hard to think of a single reason she wouldn’t love him wildly and fiercely until the day she died. Whether with him or not.
Better to be with him.
Better, for once in her life, to stay where she belonged. Where after all this time, she finallybelonged.
“Natalie.” And her name—her real name at last—was like a gift on his tongue. “The bells are ringing. The cathedral is full. Your father has given his blessing and your secret twin sister, against all odds, has returned and given us her approval, too, in her fashion. But more important than all of that, you are pregnant with my child. And I have no intention of letting either one of you out of my sight ever again.”
She pulled in a breath, then let it out slowly, as if she’d already decided. As if she’d already stayed.
“I risked death,” Rodolfo said then, something tender in his gaze. “For fun, princess. Imagine what I can do now I have decided to live.”
“Anything at all,” she replied, tears of joy in her voice. Her eyes. Maybe her heart, as well. “I think you’re the only one who doesn’t believe in you, Rodolfo.”
“I may or may not,” he said quietly. “That could change with the tides. But it only matters to me if you do.”
And she didn’t know what she might have done then, because he held out his hand. The way he had on that dance floor in Rome.
Daring her. Challenging her.
She was the least spontaneous person in all the world, but Rodolfo made it all feel as if it was inevitable. As if she had been put on this earth for no other purpose but to love him and be loved by him in turn.
Starting right this minute, if she let it.
“Come.” His voice was low. His gaze was clear. “Marry me. Be my love. All the rest will sort itself out,princesita, while we make love and babies with equal vigor, and rule my country well. It always does.” And his smile then was brighter than the Mediterranean sun. “I love you, Natalie. Come with me. I promise you, whatever else happens, you will never regret it.”
“I will hold you to that,” she said, her heart in her voice.
And then she slipped her hand into Rodolfo’s and let him lead her out into the glorious dance of the rest of their lives.
* * * * *
